2. Definition…
According to the United Nations,
a refugee is a person who flees their home
country due to a "well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social
group or political opinion."
3. Although refugees have been a constant and
accepted part of human migration for centuries, the
development of the nation-state and fixed borders
in the 19th century caused countries to shun
refugees and turn them into international pariahs.
In the past, groups of people facing religious or racial
persecution would often move to a more tolerant
region.
Today, political persecution is a major cause of out-
migration of refugees and the international goal is
to repatriate refugees as soon as the condition in
their home country becomes stable.
4. Refugee Population
There are an estimated 11-12 million refugees in the
world today. This is a dramatic increase since the mid-
1970s when there were less than 3 million refugees
worldwide.
However, it is a decrease since the 1992 when the
refugee population was nearly 18 million, high due to
the Balkan conflicts.
The end of the Cold War and the end of regimes that kept
social order led to the dissolution of countries and
changes in politics that led to unbridled persecution
and a huge increase in the number of refugees.
5. Internally Displaced Persons
In addition to refugees, there's a category of displaced
people known as "Internally Displaced Persons" who
are not officially refugees because they have not left
their own country but are refugee-like in as much as
they have been displaced by persecution or armed
conflict within their own country.
The leading countries of Internally Displaced Persons
include Sudan, Angola, Myanmar, Turkey, and Iraq.
Refugee organizations estimate that there are between
12-24 million IDPs worldwide.
6. The United Nations and Refugees
In 1951, the United Nations Conference of
Plenipotentiaries on the Status of Refugees and
Stateless Persons was held in Geneva. This conference
led to the treaty called the "Convention Relating to the
Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951.“
The international treaty establishes the definition of a
refugee and their rights. A key element of the legal
status of refugees is the principle of "non-refoulement"
- a prohibition of the forcible return of people to a
country where they have reason to fear prosecution.
This protects refugees from being deported to a
dangerous home country.
7. United Nations High Commission for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the
United Nations General Assembly. The agency is
mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action
to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems
worldwide.
Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-
being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can
exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in
another State, with the option to return home
voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third
country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.
8. In more than six decades, the agency has
helped tens of millions of people restart their
lives.
Today, a staff of some 7,190 people in more than
120 countries continues to help some 36.4
million persons.
9. The refugee problem is a serious one; there
are so many people around the world who
need so much help and there's just not
enough resources to help them all.
The UNHCR tries to encourage host
governments to provide assistance but most
of the host countries are struggling
themselves.
The refugee problem is one that developed
countries ought to take a greater part in to
reduce human suffering worldwide.
10. Refugee Destinations
When a person or family decides to leave their home country and
seek asylum elsewhere, they generally travel to the closest safe area
possible. Thus, while the world's largest source countries for refugees
include Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sierra Leone, some of the countries
hosting the most refugees include countries like Pakistan, Syria,
Jordan, Iran, and Guinea.
Approximately 70% of the world refugee population is in Africa and
the Middle East. During 1994, Rwandan refugees flooded into
Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania to
escape the genocide and terror in their country.
In 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Afghanis fled to
Iran and Pakistan. Today, refugees from Iraq migrate to Syria or
Jordan.
11. International Refugee Law
International refugee law is a set of rules and
procedures that aims to protect, first, persons
seeking asylum from persecution, and second those
recognized as refugees under the relevant
instruments. Its legal framework provides a distinct
set of guarantees for these specific groups of
persons, although, inevitably, this legal protection
overlaps to a certain extent with international
human rights law as well as the legal regime
applicable to armed conflicts under international
humanitarian law.
12. The main sources of refugee law are treaty law,
notably the 1951 Convention relating to the status
of refugees (1951 Refugee Convention) and its 1967
Protocol, and customary international law.
Customary international law applies to all states
irrespective of whether they are a party to relevant
treaties or not.
Regional instruments represent a further set of
protections, particularly the 1969 Organization of
African Unity Convention (for Africa) and, although
it is not formally legally binding, the 1984
Cartagena Declaration (for Latin America).
13. Human Rights Law and Refugee
Law: How are they Related?
International refugee law is part of a larger mosaic of
international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
Human rights law constitutes the broad framework within which
refugee law provisions should be seen. The International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights has been interpreted to prohibit return to
torture.
In addition, nearly all of its provisions apply to non-citizens. Refugees
are entitled to two partially overlapping sets of rights: those rights
accorded to them as individuals and guaranteed under international
human rights standards and national law, and specific rights related
to their status as refugees.
Two international human rights treaties have a particularly significant
role in international refugee law.
14. The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment provides for protection
from refoulement, or forced return, to situations where there
is a substantial risk of torture. The non-refoulement provision
of the Convention against Torture is absolute, unlike the non-
refoulement provision of the Refugee Convention, which
requires that protection be linked to a fear of persecution
because of a person’s race, religion, nationality, membership
of a particular social group, or political opinion.
In addition, no exceptions may be made to the Convention
against Torture’s nonrefoulement obligation. Unlike the
Refugee Convention, the Convention against Torture does not
have any provision excluding perpetrators of particularly
serious crimes or other undeserving persons from its
protection.
15. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, to
which nearly every State in the world is a
party, applies to all children without
discrimination, including child refugees and
asylum-seekers.
The Convention specifically stipulates that
every child seeking refugee status has a right
to protection and humanitarian assistance in
the enjoyment of the rights set forth in that
Convention and in others to which the State is
a party.
16. Refugees and migrants:
What is the difference?
Unlike migrants, refugees do not choose to leave their
countries; they are forced to do so. Economic migrants
are persons who leave their countries of origin purely
for economic reasons, to seek material improvements
in their lives.
The key difference between economic migrants and
refugees is that economic migrants enjoy the
protection of their home countries; refugees do not.
Economic migrants do not fall within the criteria for
refugee status and are therefore not entitled to benefit
from international protection as refugees.
